Arcadia grads hit it big with video

01/14/2012

Written by Cortney Kaminski

Former Arcadia High School students Parker Howell and Will Walsh have erupted into viral fame almost overnight through their latest project Oh, the Places You’ll Go at Burning Man!

The duo collaborated with fellow filmmaker Teddy Saunders with one main goal, to showcase the “wonderful community that is Burning Man” and give the world a peek inside.

Burning Man, an annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, is a week-long experience that is intended to connect individuals to their creative powers and participate in community, according to Burningman.com.

Howell and Walsh first met Saunders on the set of an upcoming TV pilot, Party People. Saunders initially brought up the idea for the Burning Man project. Howell and Walsh quickly became involved.

“This project is something I have wanted to do for a long time,” said Howell.\

The seven-minute video was filmed in Sept. 2011 at Burning Man in Nevada, where the three directors participated in the project while also filming other participants reciting Dr Seuss’ famed book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go.

“There is such a creative spirit (at the event),” Howell said. “We really didn’t have any problems with people being on film.”

The viral video has reached more than 700,000 hits since debuting on January 6. It has also received over 2,000 comments and has been featured by various publications.

“It’s been absolutely fascinating,” Howell said about the response.

Through the connections made with fellow participants at Burning Man, Howell and Walsh have also become involved in a new hobby.

“A lot of the people from the film are with this circus, Fire Groove,” said Howell. “Will and I are now performing with Fire Groove.”

Howell and Walsh both graduated from Arcadia High School in 2006 and went on to study film at Chapman University. Howell hopes to continue to work on projects like Oh, the Places You’ll Go at Burning Man! as well as move further up in the industry.